


The Tale of the Loyal Traitor

by ViridisNox



Series: The Untold Tales [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Books, Gen, No Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-23 12:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7464099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViridisNox/pseuds/ViridisNox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Book One of The Untold Tales.</p>
<p>Itachi isn't quite sure how to react to his life story being published.  And he didn't even get any royalties.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tale of the Loyal Traitor

* * *

 

Ten years after the dreadful Kyuubi no Youko attacked Konohagakure, a book was quietly published.

It was, admittedly, a simple book. It was small and short and to the point in its storytelling, but no less compelling because of it.

It told the tale of a young samurai, full of honor and heart, who grew up in a time of war. He grew up strong, indeed, he became one of the strongest from his city, or any other. His country was at war for many years, but eventually, the war ended and peace returned.

But, not many years after the war ended, a new threat arose. It did not rise from their defeated enemies, nor even from their triumphant allies, but from within their own walls. From within his own family.

His family was planning a coup d'etat. They planned to overthrow the current leader and take control of the city, to regain the power they once had in their city.

Because, after the war, but before the coup, they had been framed by an outcast from their family. The criminal had unleashed a vengeful spirit on the city and left evidence that his family had done it. Though the leader of the city knew the truth, the citizen cried out for the family to be punished, or to be cast out, or removed from their duties, something, anything to make up for all the lives lost in the carnage dealt by the spirit. So the leader ordered that they stay within their own estate when not guarding the city or carrying out their various duties. This was just as much to satisfy the people as it was to keep the family safe from any who wished to take justice into their own hands.

It did not take long for his family to chafe at the restrictions. They were a proud people, and constantly being looked upon with suspicion and forced to remain in their homes, with guards around them, sat well with none of them.

The boy, though, he remained loyal to the city, even as his mother and father, aunts and uncles, cousins, as they all plotted to overturn the peace they themselves had fought for, had strived after, for so many years. The boy tried to reason with the elders of the family, but they did not hear. He tried to convince his parents of their folly, but they did not hear. He tried to persuade his peers to see sense, but they did not hear.

They only heeded his words when he gave them information on the leader of the city and his council. The young samurai was powerful, and high up because of it, so his family used him as a spy against friends they now considered enemies.

The young boy could not sit back and watch as the city he loved tore itself apart, so he told the city leader of his family's’ plan. But the leader already knew, he simply did not know how to resolve such a complex issue. He could not let the coup happen, if not for his own sake, but for the sake of the city, for as soon as any of the other cities sensed the smallest weakness, they would be upon the city like crows on carrion. If the city fell into a true civil war, many would die. The boy’s family was one of the strongest samurai families in the city and they were many; if they tried to take power, they would kill many of the loyal samurai before the other cities even had a chance to assume control and kill the rest.

The leader of the city had already tried to negotiate with the family, tried to seek a way for them to solve the conflict peacefully. But they would not bend to his conviction, nor his compulsion, nor his coercion, nor even his supplication.

One of the elders of the city believed he had the perfect solution. He held hatred in his heart for the city leader, disapproved of his soft-hearted ways and lenient judgements, and believed he, himself, could do better. But for the time being, he was content to advise him, quietly circumvent the leader’s power, and regularly take matters into his own hands. This was one such time.

There was a power amassing in the shadows, amassing against the city, and the elder council member needed a spy within it, so he could better protect the city from the rising threat. The commander of the rising power hated the city and the boy’s family most of all, so, doubtless, he would accept the boy after all was done.

But the boy was not alone in his efforts to prevent the destruction of his city and his family, a cousin he considered a brother tried to resolve the conflict, as well.

The cousin had been asked to spy on the young samurai, to make sure he was acting in the interests of the family, but had instead told the boy of their schemes and joined in helping him. The cousin even attempted to go before the city elders and use his experience as a diplomat to peacefully persuade them, but before he could, the conniving council elder requested his presence.

The elder took the cousin’s tongue.

The cousin realised that both his family and the old councillor were pushing the city closer to war, and, as the council could not be persuaded, perhaps a desperate measure would convince the family to back down. He wrote a note and requested the one he called brother to meet him. They would meet on the cliff overlooking the waterfall they often came to, as it was remote and quiet.

The young boy came, only to exchange a few words with the cousin he considered a brother, before his cousin took a step backwards, right off the cliff.

His cousin had left the family a note, saying that he could no longer continue with the coup; he had hoped that his suicide would shock them out of their narrow-mindedness, but that hope proved false. As the cousin and the boy were the only ones missing from the coup meeting, the boy was looked on with suspicion, much like how the other citizens looked at the family with suspicion.

Three of the young boy’s family confronted him and he lost his temper. He easily defeated them, but stopped when he heard his younger brother cry out for him to stop fighting. Whereas the cousin was one he considered to be his elder brother, his younger brother was of the same blood and the boy loved him more than anything. He stopped fighting, and, kneeling, asked for forgiveness from his accusers.

There was an uneasy peace for a little while, both between the city and the family and between the family and the boy. But it did not last long.

The council elder requested the boy’s presence. And told him, that if he did not act, the city he treasured and the brother he loved would both be destroyed. So the boy accepted his orders, only after extracting a promise from him that his brother would be protected afterward.

The boy later met a man with a strange mask in a secret place, known only to his family. It was the leader of the rising organisation, the one who hated the city, and his family. The boy asked him for help, and a place in his organisation. The masked man agreed.

The next night, two shadows danced in candlelight and the mournful sound of steel rang out. Right before the boy killed his parents, they called him kind, and forgave him.

It rained that night in the city, but crows did not feast on the bodies of the dead.

As the boy… no, the man, left the city and the brother he had long loved, water fell to the ground and a murder of crows took to the sky.

The when the sun rose the next day, there was one less living family in the city, and one more orphan with a vengeful heart.

**|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |**

Uchiha Itachi set the book down, still slightly in shock. He did not know how the writer had achieved such a thing, but somehow they had acquired his entire life story, or at least all of the historically important sections so far.

He had been suspicious when he had found the book in his quarters, but after making certain it wasn’t a trap, he had reluctantly read it. It was set in a world that was without jutsu, chakra, or villages, but it was nonetheless clearly a book about Itachi Uchiha from the Village Hidden In The Leaves of Fire Country.

It would have taken a mind reader to learn everything the author had learned, perhaps even a necromancer, as many of the people in the story were already dead and thus ill inclined to discuss matters of the past. Even if the writer had lived through the Uchiha Massacre, they still would have been unable to know everything in described in the book. Knowledge of Shisui’s death alone, no one but Itachi possessed, as no one but him had been present or presently alive, would have been impossible for someone to know. So how did the author?

After looking long and hard, Itachi had been unable to locate the scribe, as the book had been mailed in to be printed and was published under an alias. At least, Itachi could only assume it was an alias, as he did not think anyone’s parents would have given their child the unique name of “Different Truth”.

Yes, he would keep an eye or two on Makoto Betsu. Time would tell if people saw underneath the underneath concerning “Truth’s” book.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed "The Tale of the Loyal Traitor". I am planning to write a few more stories for the Untold Tales, but as of yet, I have no concrete plans. This was largely a practice run to help me get into creative writing, so any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading, please review!


End file.
